Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Nazi Sympathizer Stripped of ‘Miss Charm’ Title by Russian Football League

Paul
Goble

Staunton, July 22 – Moscow often can
count on receiving enormous credit when it stops doing something horrific, with
many Western officials and commentators insisting that the fact that Russian
officials have stopped doing this or that is much more important than that they
did it in the first place.

Indeed, it often seems that Russian
governments benefit from this form of “double standards” even more than anyone
else, especially given the proclivity of the many in the West to insist on the
need to focus on the future rather than the past and to ignore that past in the
name of a better future.

In fact, many of them seem to sympathize with the words of a character in a "Krokodil" cartoon from just after Khrushchev delivered his secret speech about Stalin. In the cartoon, a pupil is shown complaining to his teacher about a low grade on a test. "After all," the Russian student complains, "I've admitted all my mistakes."

Nonetheless, when Russian officials
do do the right thing, it needs to be recorded; and today, they have: The
Russian Football League has stripped Olga Kuzkova of her title “Miss Charm”
after it was discovered that her Internet page featured pro-Nazi pictures and
comments (sport-express.ru/football/rfpl/news/898741/).

Sergey Cheban, the executive
director of the Russian Football League, said that his organization found such “manifestations
of fascism, nationalism and racism” unacceptable. But at the same time, he
expressed sympathy for the situation that Kuzkova had landed herself in by her
actions.

Despite stripping her of her title –
and Cheban added that Kuzkova was prepared to give it up to avoid dishonoring
the league – the director asked that everyone show “understanding about this situation
and individual. In our youth,” he said, “we all have committed mistakes … Who
is not without sin?”

“Some errors are easier to correct;
others are more difficult,” Cheban continued, adding that he “will be glad if
all this history helps Olya is able to come to an understanding about her views
on life.”

And one can only praise the Russian
football league for responding promptly and correctly in this case. But at the
same time, this response should not obscure three other things. First, it
should not be forgotten that the league gave out this award without checking
and to someone who clearly has unacceptable views on various minorities.

Second, the league has not taken the
necessary steps to discipline Russian fans who have become notorious for their
racist and xenophobic language and actions. Instead, in almost all cases, the league
has defended its fans and unconscionably sought to shift the blame to the
objects of their abuse.

And third, there is the strong
suspicion that the league acted the way it did in this case because of popular
reaction and the fears of some in Moscow that by giving a Nazi sympathizer the
title of “Miss Charm,” the league would have provided yet more ammunition to
those who believe that Russia should be stripped of the right to host the World
Cup in 2018.